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Han language
– ~14,500,000 | familycolor = Austronesian | fam1 = | fam2 = | fam3 = | sign = Signed Han | script = (mainly); (ruby script); (rarely/historically); (historically) | nation = Great Han Empire (official) Sierra (co-official) | region = Han archipelago; Guam; North Mariana islands; Palau; Micronesia; Han ethnic enclaves in Sierra | minority = | iso1 = hn | iso2 = | minority = | iso3 = | lingua = | map = | mapcaption = | agency = }} Standard Han (呂宋的言, tr. Lusongjian; lu.song'd͡ʒjän) is the national language of Hani, being the most spoke variety of Han, and being the tenth-most spoken language by native speakers and the eleventh-most spoken language including L2 speakers. It is an Austronesian language, albeit heavily influenced by the Sinitic languages, most notably Hokkien and Cantonese, with Han vocabulary being significantly influenced by Spanish and Mandarin. Standard Han and the rest of its regional varieties have been analyzed as an ergative-absolute language displaying an agglutinative morphology, utilizing affixation, including a variety of suffixes, circumfixes, and prefixes, to inflect and display information. While the word order is relatively free barring a few rules, the standardized word order is SVO (subject-verb-object) as in Chinese, with infinitives often placed at sentence-final position. Sentence structure is typically topic-comment, and since there is no topic marker, the topic is always placed at the beginning of the sentence. As it is a null-subject language, the subject is often omitted and instead indicate through context. It is a largely moraic language, with simplified phonotactics in comparison to English. Each syllable is typically comprises only of two phonemes: a consonant or a vowel, with consonant clusters not permitted. However, final nasals and approximants are possible, with several final syllables devoiced to yield final consonant allophones (such as su becoming /s/). Standard Han is based on the Han varieties of Manila and the surrounding area, spoken by approximately half of the Han population. It is ultimately derived from Old Tagalog, which is a descendant of proto-Austronesian, thus making Han part of the Austronesian languages.Historically, it experienced areal contact with the Sinitic languages and the Japonic languages, with Hokkien and Cantonese eventually directly influencing it as a superstratum due to Chinese settlement. The Great Han Consonant Shift was marked by the palatization of plosives preceding /i/, devoicing and spirantization of final plosives, and general moraicization. Grammar was not affected, though morphology and syntax changed significantly. The official global regulatory body of the Han language is the , which regulates its the proper usage. The Han language is written primarily in Han , a conservative based upon . However, its usage is tweaked to fit the grammatical complexity of Han. History Prehistory Tagalog The earliest form of Han was called Old Tagalog; which had developed from a branch of Central Hannic. Early Tagalog was part of a that stretched from Northeast Nando to the southern half of Beido. The earliest attested document featuring the language was the , which written using the script; which in-turn ultimately derives from the introduced from India. By the thirteenth century, through a series of conquests and settlement, Old Tagalog became the dominant language of southern Beido. Starting in the early sixteenth and ending in the mid-seventeenth centuries, basic was reorganized to a order (from a standard order), and many became ; results of with the various and . Great Han Phonetic Shift In the eighteenth century, gained official recognition, with (based on the dialect) becoming the official language of administration, whilst emerged as the of the islands, both exerting significant influence on the phonology of . The usage of was banned in-favour of , though a vernacular script utilizing characters was developed and standardized in 1740 under the reign of the Zhenmu Empress. However, the imperial decree had only standardized changes that had started earlier, in the mid-seveteenth century. During this period, many consonant endings were either dropped or converted into separate syllables via . Other notable changes were the of and the unpacking of archaic . It also marked the shift of a language that utilized stress to distinguish , to one that utilized tone, as when the ending consonants were altered, the preceding vowels developing tone distinctions. Final plosives, fricatives, and approximants having bouncing, falling, and rising pitch registers respectively. Modern Han Phonology Vowels Consonants Phonotactics There are five main phonological constraints: * all syllables have a nucleus * the onset is optional and while typically comprised of a single consonant, it can have a maximum of two consonants: a plosive or an affricate, followed by an approximant * the nucleus is obligatory, and must always be a syllabic vowel * the coda is optional, and can only consist of nasals, lateral approximants, and unvoiced obstruents (which are realized as unreleased stops) * the only word-final consonants permitted are nasals and lateral approximants Grammar Word order is free, as long as the sentence is (although the infinitive verb is always placed last, rendering such sentences ). It is also a , with the being typically placed at the beginning of a sentence. It is also a , meaning the head of a phrase precedes its complement. Verbs Inflection Verbs are morphologically complex, and are inflected with affixes (a variety of circumfixes, prefixes, and suffixes) based on focus and tense. The thematic role (agent, patient, or oblique) of the noun is directly-influenced by verb inflection, determining the verb argument's ergativity. However, the verb inflection can also be used on adjectives and nouns themselves. There are three main patient-focus affixes, which are typically used in transitive sentences and indicate an ergative voice; * -''in'' is used for objects that are moved towards the agent, objects that are permanently changed, and objects that are thought of * i''- is used for objects which undergo a change of state * -''an is used for items undergoing a surface change There are three agent-focus affixes, which are typically used in intransitive sentences and indicate an accusative voice; * un- is externally-directed actions * mag- is used for internally-directed actions * ma is used for a few verb roots that are semantically intransitive There are four other focus affixes * the locative focus refers to the location or direction of an action or the area affected by the action * the benefactive focus refers to the beneficiary of an action * the instrumental focus refers to the means by which an action is performed * the reasonal focus refers to the cause or reason why an action is performed Below is a chart of the main verbal affixes, which consist of prefixes, circumfixes suffixes (with infixes in Old Tagalog becoming prefixes). In the chart, CV stands for the reduplicated first syllable of a root verb, which is usually the first consonant and the first vowel of the word. ~'' stands for the root verb and indicates a circumfix. Mood Nouns Nouns are inflected by the enclitic particles that mark for case, which are mostly prepositional. Pronouns Personal Personal are categorised into three cases; the , the , and the (it can either be used as a or ). Personal pronouns can also be classified based on viewpoint. is not regarded as its own distinct case. However, the dative form of a pronoun coupled with the personal genitive marker ''ni (contrasting with its common form no) indicates it. As pronouns are not inflected based on , pronouns are gender-neutral and may be used to refer to both a male or a female. Demonstrative Demonstrative pronouns are categorized into four cases, with the genitive case functioning similarly to the possessive case of personal pronouns. Interrogative Modifiers Particles Han uses particles to convey different nuances in meaning, most of which are unbound; * na - conjoins adjective and noun * na - now, already * ha - still, else, in addition, yet * kajì - even, even if, even though * ni and nani - marks personal names that are not the focus of the sentence; indicates possession. * shi and shina - marks and introduces personal names * rin - too, also * ra - limiting particle; only or just * dao - a reporting particle that expresses that the information in the sentence is second-hand; they say, he said, reportedly, supposedly, etc. * ho - shows politeness * ba - used in yes-and-no questions and optionally in other types of questions, * muna - for now, for a minute and yet (in negative sentences). * naman - used in making contrasts; softens requests; emphasis * kase - expresses cause; because * kaya - expresses wonder; I wonder; perhaps (we should do something) (also optionally used in yes-and-no questions and other forms of questions) * teka - expresses that the speaker has realised or suddenly remembered something; realization particle * yatta - expresses uncertainty; probably, perhaps, seems * kaya - used in cause and effect; as a result * sana - expresses hope, unrealised condition (with verb in completed aspect), used in conditional sentences. * baka - expresses the potential of an action to occur * go - used to indicate duty, correctness, or obligation Negation There are three negation words, which are all postpositional; * hide (tchi) - used to negate verbs * wa - used to express negative commands * wara used to indicate the absence of an object Dialects Han has forty main dialects, excluding pidginized forms and the Sierran dialect. Sierran Han Han pidgin Footnotes Category:Great Han Empire